CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSSPrivate Hall was on mess duty aboard the the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Hall was reported to be trapped in the Marine galley by a falling gear locker.
He was declared dead the following month.

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One Reply to “Ted Hall”

On this 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and loss of our dad’s brother, Ted Hall, we remember the wonderful stories our folks told us about the uncle we never got to meet. He was handsome, smart and a really nice guy. He and Don Lowery went to Oak Park Christian Church together. There’s a typewritten letter from Ted before he came back from MU in Columbia in June, 1941 to Don suggesting they sign up for the Marines instead of being drafted in the Army where they’d have to live in barracks. Within a few days of that letter, they both joined the Marines.

I had a chance to visit with Don before he passed away and record some of his memories about Ted and their experiences together in the Marines and aboard the USS Oklahoma.

Ted was the first employee of Hallmark Cards (then named Hall Brothers–no relation to Ted, my dad and their three brothers) to die in WWII. I have a letter from the Executive Vice President of Hallmark written in 1976 to the family saying he worked with Ted and what a great guy he was.
There’s an article in The Kansas City Star (or Times) about the good and bad day of December 24, 1941 for my grandparents, Walter and Sophia Hall. After returning home from the wedding of their oldest son (our parents, Leon and Martha) that evening, they received notice that Ted was missing in action. I understand my grandmother Sophia Hall was never the same after Ted died. She died ten years later from cancer and a broken heart. She was the proud mother of five boys who all served in WWII: Leon-U.S. Army, Eddie-U.S. Navy, Ted-U.S. Marine Corps, Tom-U.S. Army Air Force, John-U.S. Navy.

We hope someday soon Ted’s remains will be positively identified in the special government program that is attempting to identify the remains of the USS Oklahoma soldiers through DNA.

Rest in peace, Uncle Ted. You are not fogotten.
Trudy Hall and Joanne (Hall) Oberndorfer